Review“Will talking about race make my child racist?” dispelling myths to encourage honest white U.S. parent-child conversations about race and racism
Section snippets
Myth 1: Talking about race will make White children racist
One reason that White parents give for avoiding discussions of race and racism with their White children is that talking about race will make their child racist. Thus, White parents avoid discussing race because they believe that doing so would make their children aware of race, which could lead them to develop racial biases [6]. In one study, 29% of White mothers avoided discussing race because they wanted their White children to not notice race. One mother stated that pointing out race could
Myth 2: White children are too young to talk about race
Second, White parents may refrain from honest parent-child conversations about race and racism because they believe their children would find them too complex and stressful. For example, in one study, White parents stated that their 4-5-year-old children were too young to understand race and racial inequality [6]. However, research suggests that White children may be able to understand inequality – including racial inequality – at an early age. Three-year-old White children can associate racial
Myth 3: Race and racism are irrelevant to White children's lives
Third, White parents avoid honest parent-child discussions about race and racism because they believe that race and racism are irrelevant to, and do not affect, their family [6,13]. Because White children are unlikely to be targets of racial discrimination [34], White parents may believe that race and racism do not have implications for their own families, and therefore consider it irrelevant [13]. However, the belief that racism is irrelevant to White children is uninformed and misguided.
Discussion
In this review, we summarize three myths that motivate White parents’ avoidance of honest discussions about race and racism with their White children and provide evidence for why these beliefs are false. First, White parents may believe that simply mentioning race can make their White child racist. However, when children receive messages that ignore the existence of race and racism, they actually report greater racial bias [21,22], while color conscious language—or messages that explicitly
Conflict of interest statement
Nothing declared.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Dr. Larisa Heiphetz for her comments on a draft of this manuscript.
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